A 41-year-old Hungarian man charged with holding a hotel worker hostage earlier this week was ordered held in custody himself for at least another four weeks, while police continue their investigation.
The dramatic hostage situation at the Clarion Hotel Royal Christiania in downtown Oslo set off a major police response after the defendant took a male member of the hotel’s cleaning staff hostage and threatened to set off a bomb unless he was provided with cash and a getaway car. Police said the hotel employee was threatened with a knife and an electric shock weapon.
The hostage-taker gave up after nearly five hours of negotiations with police. His defense attorney told TV2 that he had lost his job in Hungary just before he traveled to Norway and checked in at the hotel as a guest. “Police believe there was an economic motive and it seems there was,” defense attorney Tor Kjærvik told TV2.
newsinenglish.no staff
